A/N: If anyone's curious what inspired this fic, I have the link to the tumblr discussion after the story. Cheers, everybody!

Grass Whistle

Lloyd Garmadon flopped on his back, grunting slightly when his head thumped on the ground, and blinked. The tropical sun either hid behind or poked out between the slices in the palm branches overhead.

The breeze was nice, but the light in his eyes was kind of annoying. So was the island heat. But more annoying was the fact that Lloyd didn't know how many metric tons of sand it takes to conceal a flying ship.

I mean, he'd know better than anyone. He was pretty sure he'd moved more than half (okay...a fifth, since the other ninja were helping) of it himself. Slowly. Bit by bit. With his own two arms. In a shovel.

What he wouldn't give for a bulldozer right now. Or a wheelbarrow. Or...literally anything that would carry that much sand instead of him.

He hadn't bothered to count the exact amount, but by golly, he'd carried it. So, needless to say, his arms were pooped. So pooped they should really be flushed right now.

He had to snicker at that for a second. Gene would've killed to come up with that himself.

But then Lloyd bit his lip. He probably shouldn't be making dumb, kiddy jokes like that anymore. He was the green ninja. And Uncle Wu would never let him "abandon his focus".

Still, though...it was hard to believe the fate of Ninjago rested on a twelve-year-old kid.

Lloyd looked down at his feet—they were way further away than they used to be—and wiggled his toes. Good thing no one was here to see him goofing off like this. He could kind of see his toes through the black sock-like footies of his gi.

This grown-up body was so weird. He was still trying to get used to it. And as helpful as it was for moving more sand than a human should have to see in his lifetime...well, it still stunk to get out of bed sometimes and over-balance until he almost fell over.

Movement and a shock of white at the corner of Lloyd's eye made him whip his head around to look. Had Uncle Wu caught him slacking off? He'd better—

Oh. No, it was just Zane's dad. The bespectacled inventor sat four trees away from Lloyd in the shade of the half-finished combat vehicle. He was fiddling with something in his hands, both of his feet propped up on a gear box.

The old man put his clasped hands against his lips, and a clear whistle note pierced the sound of the breeze and lap of the waves.

Lloyd sat straight up, eyes wide. Zane's dad grinned and changed the shape of his hands to get different notes, eventually playing a bouncy song with the whistle.

Lloyd couldn't believe it. Do grown-ups goof off too? The machine was right there, and the old man should have been working on it. But no, he was playing a song with a whistle and totally goofing off. How was he doing that anyway?

Zane's dad must have noticed him staring. "Eh, help an old man out, would you?" he asked, turning to Lloyd with a lopsided smile. "My memory's not what it used to be. Your name is...Lloyd?"

He sounded unsure. "Yeah," Lloyd answered with a little smile.

"Ah! Thank you!" he exclaimed. Zane's dad wheezed when he laughed. "I know my son, of course, but there are a lot of you. I'm doing my best to keep up."

Lloyd didn't know how to respond to that. "You're doing great," he tried. Yep. Nailed it. He scooted next to the old inventor and leaned over to see his hands. "How are you doing that?"

"Oh, I'm just messing around," he replied. "It's a grass whistle." He turned his hands so that Lloyd could see the green blade of grass held along the length of his thumbs.

Lloyd raised one eyebrow. It was a little weird to be sitting this close to a grown-up that he didn't know very well, but he was really curious now. "It's just one little blade. How does that work?"

"Why, it's simple." Uh-oh. Lloyd could tell he'd set him off now. Most nerds don't stop once you get them talking.

"The grass acts like a reed in a wind instrument," the inventor rambled. "This island grass is very well-adapted to it. A good shape and texture, and very aerodynamic. Like so." He blew on the grass again to demonstrate, and a clear note sang out.

Lloyd felt a smirk twitch up one side of his face. "I guess I've got to try it now." Gotta hurry before Wu caught them both stalling. He snatched a blade of grass out of a sprig growing close by and blew.

Lo and behold, he got a huge fart noise.

Zane's dad wheezed through his hand.

"Hey…" muttered Lloyd. He frowned. Did Zane's dad trick him somehow? I mean, I guess it would be a pretty funny prank if it wasn't you. He wouldn't put it past him, considering some other pranks that were pulled on him in the past…

"I'm—I'm terribly sorry," the old inventor said with a cough, and cleared his throat. "I shouldn't laugh." He was still smiling, but it looked kinder.

Lloyd could feel his eyebrows shoot up to the sky. "Uh, no, that's okay," he stammered. Did an adult just...apologize to him?

"Here, let me see," he said, and thin, wrinkled hands took Lloyd's too-big hands between them. Lloyd's eyebrows were galavanting in the clouds and not coming down anytime soon.

"Hm," the old inventor muttered. He picked up the blade of grass and sized it up with one eye shut, then put it back and made sure Lloyd was holding it correctly. Must not have noticed how Lloyd reacted. "The length of this one should be right for the size of your hands. Hold it like this.

"Perhaps…" He grinned and sat back, plucking a new blade of grass. "Yes, be careful not to press your lips flat against your hands. You ought to keep a round shape, and blow." He winked at Lloyd and gave a gentle puff on the new blade to demonstrate.

So Lloyd scrunched up his face and tried. And tried again. And again. The best ones were when he got no sound at all, or only got a little whizzing noise.

He grunted in annoyance. Wu could show up at any time now and he still couldn't figure it out.

Zane's dad paused in his own whistling. "Don't give up, there," he said gently. "You almost have it."

Lloyd looked up, surprised again, but the inventor was already distracted by the clouds and his whistle and the large pillar rocks offshore. So Lloyd tried again, and again, and—finally, blowing hard, he got a peep of a whistle.

Zane's dad sat up and barked out a, "Ha!"

"I did it!" cried Lloyd, and he started to laugh for pride.

"Well done," the old inventor said, chuckling, and he whistled away into his hands.

Lloyd had to smile; a real one, this time. He hadn't had a lot of time for fun lately, and now he learned something new.

With new energy, he tried to copy everything he did to get that first whistle—and sometimes, he succeeded!—until his mom appeared on top of the sand dune piled up against the Bounty.

"Lloyd! Doctor!" she called, waving down at them. "Come in. There is something you both need to see."

"We're coming," Lloyd called back. He un-crossed the too-long legs and started to get up.

Zane's dad was already standing, and he offered a wrinkled hand down to help Lloyd to his feet. "Let's see what she wants," he suggested with a smile.

"Yeah." Lloyd took it and pulled himself upright.

The waves kept lapping on the shore, and the palm branches kept bouncing overhead, as they made their way to the Bounty.

Lloyd fell back a little—not consciously, but slowly, bit by bit—as he watched the old inventor's back and saw him waving up at Zane, who'd appeared on top of the ship as well.

Lloyd felt his face crumple, and he looked down at the black footies of his gi.

Part of him wished it was his own dad who'd taught him to make a grass whistle.

tbc...

A/N: Thanks to EntityEndDragon, Candaru, and Skylark for the help in spelling "gi". You all are those little round candies with a hole in the middle.

This fic was inspired by the awesome Dr. Julien fanbase on tumblr, especially the discussion linked here: boxydj. tumblr post/ 166348721400/ drjulien-drjulien-drjulien-dr-juliens . I hope you guys enjoy what I've got in store!

Reviews are goofing off when nobody catches you.